Smalltown Supersound

Made primarily while on the road, the nine-track LP spans techno, electro, deep house and ambient. It’s Karmil’s second full-length on Smalltown Supersound, following 2018’s Will.

Describing his production process, the UK artist says, “I tended to record a little here and there when I could grab some time with my gear, and then do most of the arranging and choices while I was traveling about—until the end when I went to mix in one of my favourite studios, Cologne’s incredible The Brewery.”

Smalltown Supersound look to early Norwegian ambient music with Erik Wøllo’s ‘Sources (Early Works 1986-1992)’, taken from previously unheard tapes and remastered by Helge Sten (Deathprod). Made using a Roland MSQ700 sequencer in real time with multiple MIDI synths and modules, Wøllo’s music inside ‘Sources (Early Works 1986-1992)’ was written off the cuff and never really intended for release. Now 27 years later, it will surely appeal to a generation nurtured on synth music, taking in 10 magnificent, icy vistas that sound like pre-echoes of music to come from Biosphere and Arve Henriksen.

“I felt totally unrestrained making this album” says Lindstrøm about his 6th solo album On A Clear Day I Can See You Forever (a title inspired by the 1970’s musical On A Clear Day You Can See Forever starring Barbra Streisand). “I’ve listened to Robert Wyatt’s solo albums and his Matching Mole’s debutalbum a lot lately. It so effortless, fearless and free. And not insisting. I was very inspired by this”

In the autumn of 2018, Lindstrøm composed a commissioned piece for Norway’s premiere art centre Henie Onstad Kunstsenter. Sketches from the three sold-out performances became the foundation for the new tracks. “I decided to keep some of the initial ideas and develop them further. All the songs are based on long one-take recordings”, says Lindstrøm “Also I’ve been very conscious about the music on the album not exceeding the length of the physical limitations of the vinyl-format, finding that 2 long tracks on each side were the perfect balance for this album”

This is also the first time ever Lindstrøm has made an album entirely with hardware instead of computer-plugins. He utilised thirty plus synthesizers and drum-machines during his performance at Henie Onstad Kunstsenter. The experience inspired him to embrace a similar set-up when making the album. “The joy of making music on actual physical objects and devices makes a lot of sense to me now. After working on a computer for over 15 years, I don’t think I’ll ever look back” he says with an almost childlike excitement.

It was the accessibility to his enviable collection of music gear – largely consisting of sought after synthesizers – that allowed Lindstrøm to experiment so freely with ideas and soundscapes. “The title track is a 10-minutes improvisation on the Moog Memorymoog. I liked the loose feel so I decided to keep everything unedited. The other tracks were written and arranged prior to the recordings. I then set up the instruments needed for my sessions, then recorded more or less everything in a single take. I’m really happy with the way this album came together.”

Lindstrøm has cited classical music as an inspiration the last couple of years “I used to study classical music at school. Back then I was listening to a lot of Opera, orchestral music and solo music on the piano. Listening to classical music again has been a revisit to my childhood days, just like I did when I embraced the 80s in the early 2000s”

OCCULTING DISK is an anti-fascist ritual. Recorded in Oslo, Reykjavik, Cologne, Berlin and Los Angeles between 2012 and 2019. It is the first Deathprod album to be released since the 2004 album «Morals and Dogma». Liner notes by Will Oldham (note: not the above below). LP cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin. Artwork by Kim Hiorthøy and Helge Sten.

“I remember driving over a mountain with my mother, she was in the passenger seat and we were being mauled and cuddled and battered and fried by sound; together. We were together experiencing something previously unimaginable, and we were facing the same direction, and we were moving through space and time knowing that a geographic destination some way ahead would bring an end. And the sound surrounded us, and for once our mutual silence was loaded with good. Because we were in the presence of each other, and we knew so much about how we had failed each other (it wasn’t a mystery any more), and we knew how we had maimed others when we worried too much about ourselves, how we had contributed to the faults of others simply by focusing in instead of out. Our mutual silences were laden with what that could only be called love. I used to hear love in music until I learned to hear love in sound. “ (Will Oldham)

Following 2017’s Infinite Avenue and 2013’s Sleeper, Both Lines Will Be Blue is Carmen’s first full instrumental album. A 7 track collection of cosmic excursions and dubby ambient-jams, the album is written, recorded, played, produced and mixed by Carmen in her Oslo studio. The soothing atmospherics are made up of tapestries of field recordings, synths, piano, drum-programming, zither and modular sounds. Throughout, Carmen’s music is colored by experimenting with different sounds and learning new techniques or by adding new instruments to the mix.

Smalltown Supersound is proud to be releasing YOSHINORI HAYASHI’s debut album, Ambivalence. Previous work by the Tokyo-based producer has been called “a complex patchwork of studio gear, live instruments, dusty jazz records and smartly cut library sounds, whose textures are soft and inviting. But its arrangements are constantly ruffled, squeezed, brushed and pinched—which is to say, nothing stays still for long” (Resident Advisor). Hayashi presents his self-described “collage expression” throughout Ambivalence, which he produced and played in its entirety. Album opener, “Overflow,” is a club track inspired by Cecil Taylor. It’s freeform nature sets the tone for the album’s cosmic, hypnotic, and almost ritualistic approach. Hayashi has studied under Japanese avant-classical composer Mica Nozawa. When not DJing, he works in a record store in Tokyo. Thus far, Hayashi has released a string of 12”s on labels including Going Good Records, Jinn Records, Lovers Rock, Gravity Grafitti and Moscoman’s Disco Halal. Check out his recent mix for Resident Advisor

The avant-garde ambient/noise/jazz/improv group returns with their 14th installment in the Supersilent series. Produced by DEATHPROD at Audio Virus LAB All selections by SUPERSILENT—Arve Henriksen (trumpet, voice and electronics), Helge Sten (electronics), Ståle Storløkken (keyboards and electronics)

The “SOURCED” EP follows his critically acclaimed “WILL” on SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND. MATT delivers two classic disco edits and two killer deeper tracks. A perfectly balanced EP with a track for all times and moods and essential for those early or late night sets.

Karmil’s fourth album, Will, is released on the Norwegian Smalltown Supersound label – the home of Lindstrøm among others. Even more than before Matt has managed to combine his love of the graceful forward motion of minimal techno beats with the deeply granular textures and meditative chambers of reverb and delay. Mastered by the careful hand of Rashad Becker at the legendary Dubplates & Mastering plant, this driverless vehicle takes bumps and curves with ease, but passes through enough scuzzy neighbourhoods to make the journey more memorable.

Before you get to the long ambient closing track, ‘Maffé’, Will contains its share of muted bangers like ‘Morals’ and ‘Can’t Find It (The House Sound)’. While these would vibrate well on the dancefloor, the experience for Matt is primarily a private domestic one. ‘I like to try to create a room to visit, and while it’s nice to have details and look out the window occasionally, the fundamental is the room/environment itself – my personal enjoyment of music away from the club is often centred around long form and ambient works.’

After a collaborative studio session in Bergen, Norway 20 years ago, which sadly only resulted in a distorted tape, Bjørn Torske and Prins Thomas reunite to make music. Bjørn Torske is a figurehead and grand old man of the electronic music scene in Norway, inspiring and laying the foundation for producers like Prins Thomas, Lindstrøm and Todd Terje. Torske and Thomas’s relationship goes back to the mid 90’s when they first bonded over a shared passion for oddball disco, dub and Detroit techno. ‘Square One,’ the first collaborative album between Torske and Thomas, completes their cycle of cosmic inspiration and education. ‘Square One’ is a collection of loose, abstract and free-form avant-disco jams (parallel world disco, maybe?). Whatever you call it, the album is a labour of love that shares a sound both Torske and Thomas have continuously adventured towards. Here they finally are, at square one.

Originally released as a limited edition handmade cassette box, the three pieces of the work ‘Treetop Drive’ crystallised Deathprod’s specific method of composition, found sounds and textural layering. “Treetop Drive 1-3” were recorded live in concert in 1993, direct to two track DAT tape, at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Arts. They combine the precision of digital sampling, the unpredictability of homemade electronics, and the esoteric tape-echo sound of Hans Magnus Ryan (Motorpsycho)’s violin, defining a new space in which to perform and compose. Existing in a void between the arts, contemporary music and alternative culture, the album ‘Treetop Drive’ was completed with the realization of the piece “Towboat,” recorded at Audio Virus LAB in 1994, and released by the label Metal Art Disco later the same year. This audio restoration from an early 1994 master means the album has never sounded better.

Reissued for the first time on vinyl on Smalltown Supersound! Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic is the world’s remotest island. If you want to visit for more than one day, you have to wait a year until the next boat arrives to pick you up. Imagining life in such a lonely and cut-off environment opens up a space for Deathprod’s yearning set of electronic SOS calls that are destined never to quite reach out through the airwaves. Violin by Ole Henrik Moe – who introduced Helge to the writings of a Norwegian expedition to the island in the 1930s – was recorded in the forest outside Oslo, manipulated and transferred to phonographic wax cylinders to give an extra dimension of decay. The final track on the album, “The Contraceptive Briefcase II,” was recorded live in concert by the Norwegian Broadcast Corporation (NRK), and features five vocalists, musical glasses, a musical saw, theremin and layered electronics.